TTC and still breastfeeding? Thread # 5 - Positive Vibes!

Welcome ppandj. I think you can ovulate without AF but it varies from person to person. One of the key things is cutting down on night feeds apparently.
Good luck with the night weaning lullaby. We have had the occasional night with no feeding over the last couple of months but teeth or illnesses always seem to put things back. It's hard! Hopefully your ds will play ball and it will become a habit for him. I don't think I've tried hard enough-feeding back to sleep is just so quick and easy!
I think in terms of dropping feeds, do one and if he doesn't mind then drop another a couple of weeks later. It should be easy if he's eating and drinking well and isn't that bothered already. I've been trying to drop the late afternoon one the last couple of weeks by just not offering. She demands though and pulls at my top until she gets it. She's just not ready and i think it's probably harder now she's older and is very aware of what she wants!

Hello can I join too?

My stats are
ppandj, age 25, one DS 11mo. No AF since having him yet, hoping for return soon so I know if I'm ovulating. Currently trying to cut down on bfing gradually and hoping to get him in his own bed for longer portions of the night as think this might be affecting it all?

Hi Ghost. More the merrier let's get this thread going again!

I think the only definitive way to tell you're ovulating is temping as your temperature rises noticeably, and therefore you can only determine this retrospectively. This really doesn't work for me as my thermometer seems to be a bit dodgy plus like you I am currently doing multiple wake ups so the likelihood of me having slept 3/4 consecutive hours (or whatever it is you need to make it accurate) when my alarm goes off is very slim... I do have my clearblue monitor which tells you if you're peaking but I don't think that guarantees you've ovulated necessarily.

I think I mentioned upthread we are attempting to night wean starting tonight DH is going to do wake ups for the next few nights in the hope this encourages fewer wake ups and more calories during the day. DS is 11 months so I feel like it's time but I'm sure he has his own ideas.

I don't think you've failed at anything, you are letting DD do things at her own pace which is lovely responsive gentle parenting. Fingers crossed your fertility is returning! I'm on my 3rd AF currently and must say this one feels different to the first two, lasting longer and (TMI) heavier so I wonder if the first couple were practice runs?

At 7 months I decided to do quite a lot of work to get DS off the boob all night, sleeping in his cot and schedule BFs during the day. It has worked well, he eats ok and is still putting on weight/following his line so I don't feel guilty about it. For the last couple of weeks his day feeds have shortened to 5 mins which might be he's getting more efficient or maybe he's just too busy and distracted to feed longer. I hope he will feed more (if he needs to) once night feeds are reducing. I'm also making sure to offer more snacks as he seems to like little and often.

I'm still a bit confused about dropping feeds as DS never really bothers me for BF I just offer on our schedule after wake ups so approx 7am, 10.15am, 3.30pm, 6.30pm (+ 1 or 2 night feeds until now....) if I didn't offer I don't know what he would do. When he turns one i might stop offering the 10am feed and see what happens.

Hello! I'd like to join too and hopefully revive the thread if that's ok? Been checking in for a while but all went quiet. My dd is almost 16 months and I'm still bfing loads (usually 4 times a day and twice at night) but would like to start trying, probably next month. I've had 4 AF now but no idea if I'm actually ovulating. What's the best way to tell?
I'm afraid I can't help with cutting down lullaby. DD won't take cow's milk or much water and isn't a big eater so I've failed on that one and am just letting her do things in her own time. Just hoping that doesn't mean I can't get pregnant. I do know someone who got pregnant while exclusively bfing her ds and expressing for supplies though so there is hope!

Hi Zaha welcome! It's gone very quiet here, hope we can revive the thread

I am no expert but from what I have read the effect of BF on fertility varies greatly between individuals. Personally I am still BF 4 times during the day and at least once at night and once we stopped cosleeping my periods came back. However I believe they are anovulatory at the moment as I used my fertility monitor and only got highs no peaks.

I know some people who have conceived whilst still BFing once or twice a day whereas others have had to stop altogether.

I have got DH onboard to do some work to night wean from next week do I'm hoping that will help. Then I need to think about day feeds...

Can I ask how did you get down to only one feed? Is your DC on formula for other feeds? I've tried offering DS cows milk in a cup a few times to get him used to it but he's not keen! Ideally I'd like to BF morning and bedtime only once he's one next month but not sure how to go about it during the day. Any advise anyone??

Hello everyone,
I am wondering if I can join. My DS is 9 months old and I am now down to BF once a day. My AF just arrived a couple of days ago, so I am now ready to TTC for #2!

I am looking forward to learning from your experience.. For example, do you know if once your AF has arrived, then you will ovulate and have your periods more or less regularly? Or can the residual BF still have an effect on ovulation?

I will also go back and read through the thread.

How is everyone? No real news from here although my first proper post baby AF was a 28 day cycle so quite pleased that things seem to have got back to normal by cutting back the night feeds. No guarantee I'm fertile of course!

Congratulations expresso! So I'm on cd34 here and a bfn this morning. I don't think I actually ovulated this cycle (negative opks Nd no obvious ewcm) but managed to dtd (good to have some practise! ) But no luck. Ds ramped up his feeding over the last week and I think my body is just saying 'no can do'! We're in the midst of moving countries at the moment and in April have a months trio to Australia so I've decided to go with the flow until we are back. He will be 2 then and operation wean can commence. Until that point I think I'll just ignore any thoughts of ttc. Wishing everyone the best of luck! Xx

Congrats Espresso!!

And nice to hear from you Pear, can believe how quick its going, you'll be having your scan before you know it!

I'm lurking about in the shadows, still ttc but not having much luck :( , my last cycle was only 45 days which is a massive improvement from the 60-70 days previous so trying to look on the bright side (but finding it hard atm especially as lots of people IRL are announcing pregnancies!)

Hi to everyone who's joined recently, wishing you all lots of luck on you ttc journeys whilst breastfeeding/finishing breastfeeding.

I'm worried my post was discouraging, as you might be like me and be questioning things.

My un-scientific view - me and 2 other friends breastfed for a long time, and were also trying to conceive. Both others managed to get pregnant whilst bf-ing (for one it happened 3 months after return of cycle, the other had cycles since 4 weeks despite feeding round the clock - she took a lot longer to get pregnant - but did manage it).

Like Pear, I'm very pleased that I carried on as long as I did, and that we had a nice end to a very important part of our relationship. DD still rams her hand down my top all the time though

Pear - my pregnancy is fine, in that I feel sick as a dog and dead tired! Lucky you nearing the end of icky period!

Well no AF I'm now on cycle day 30 and a negative pregnancy test .
Was so hoping for a positive but it was the first month and I might not get another AF for a while ! Fingers crossed for a normal cycle to commence soon
Congrats espresso wishing u all the best and so glad your pregnancy is going well pear.

Congratulations espresso that's great that you got your 'reward' so to speak so quickly after weaning and that DD was ok with it.

The problem now is, I'm now so flipping distracted that I'm back on Mumsnet again!

Many congratulations Pear, that had been a long time coming.

I stopped looking at this page, as I needed to step away from thinking about it. In the end, after getting down about BFN's, I weaned my daughter on Boxing Day (1st day of period), 3 weeks before she was 2. We were down to 1 a day, but she was getting increasingly vocal about it in public when tired, and I wasn't comfortable with that (mine and society's problem, not her's). Plus, I was getting sick of TTC (esp as she'd been in a long phase of of waking loads, and in my bed from early in the night)

Weaning was easy-peesy, not a tear shed by her (lots by me!), some whining every afternoon for about 4 days, easily solved by cuddles and telly. Lots of Christmas distraction helped.

Anyway, 2 weeks later, I conceived (I'm now 5 weeks). The cycle after stopping was different, ovulation signs occurred sooner than usual. I'm sure in theory I could have got pregnant while bf-ing, but I have a hunch the bf hormones were making it harder, even though I'd had periods since about 20 months.

I think we weaned at the right time, she could deal with it, and I was really over it - and we got rewarded with a pregnancy straight away (let's hope it gets through the risky stage). Fingers crossed for all others on here, whichever path you choose.

Yeah I had that issue with fertility friend too, seems pointless! Hope your bleeding calms down soon

Thanks lullaby

I had previously looked at the Ovia App but it was asking for details about cycles and my last period which I have no idea about so it seemed pretty pointless.

I had my Mirena Coil out two days ago and have been bleeding heavily since and I feel like crap. This happened to me when I had my first Mirena out (2 years ago) but it only lasted about 3-4 days so I'm just riding it out.

Woops clearly that should say American!

writer I use the Glow app though it is a bit cheesy / Anerican.

AF arrived for me today first time in 18 months so a bit weird!

I just popped back to check on you all & im so happy to see pear's wonderful news! Congrats pear! Fantastic :)

Good idea dougal about putting down what we're all trying.

I'm not doing too much at the min
I'm tracking my cycle on a few apps fertility friend and bump watch.
Trying to dtd as regular as possible
Trying to drink more water and cut out caffeine.
Trying to get generally a bit healthier make more time to exercise
Hope that helps

Thanks Dougal - my Mirena came out this morning so it's feeling very real now.

God I wish I could get more sleep, I get about 5-6 hours a night, sometimes 7 if I'm really, really lucky!!

What Apps do you recommend?

I can't really do temps as I'm up and down during the night due to DS being a little sod at times which means temps wouldn't be accurate and reliable.

Welcome Writer! Think I am the (sporadic) veteran of the thread now.

Hopefully this means I get a BFP shortly.

And thank you Pumpkin. things weird here. Heavy spotting (so a spoonful, not a stain) since Monday, but no AF yet. tested negatively this morning.

We'd booked a holiday to escape the stress, but now it turns out it is in a Zika area. DH is having a right wibbly about whether we should go. Our week there would be my fertile time, but we could avoid. He is worried by some reports saying it can linger in sperm.

Such a downer, and I can't honestly figure out if DH is justified or totally over-egging the worry.

Writer. I feel like we should have some sort of summary of what we've all been trying. Here are some thoughts, in no particular order:

• track your cycle. Loads of apps for this.
• if you want to do a bit more, temp. Take Charge of Your Fertility and various websites explain how. the idea is it is one of the most accurate ways of confirming ovulation.
• I find LH urine testing more realiable, but temping has helped me figure out a lot of things
• get more sleep
• have a look at your diet - lots of good fats (avocado...) and exercise
• make and drink bone broth more on this here heidibrockmyre.com/blog/1244. Excellent for breast feeding recovery, and to support the hormones that manage your cycle

I could tell you plenty about short cycles, pre period spotting and low progesterone / luteal phase. Others know more about other stuff (long cycles etc)

expat Zimbabwe and UN? Wow! Not so exciting here, Singapore.